Chronic fatigue syndrome costs the UK economy millions of pounds in lost productivity each year, research announced on 14 September estimates.

Two studies presented at the British Science Festival in Bradford say that the syndrome, also called myalgic encephalopathy (ME), has a severe financial affect on affected people and their families.

In one study researchers from the University of Bristol found that over half of patients attending specialist ME services had stopped work because of “fatigue related symptoms” (BMC Health Services Research 2011;11:217, doi:10.1186/1472-6963-11-217). The cost in lost productivity represented by the 2170 patients studied was £49.2m (€56m; $78m). Extrapolating this figure to the nearly …